Author
Topic: Baking the pizza cold (Read 1131 times)

For the next pizza I make, I am considering refrigerating it for a while after it is all dressed up. I have two reasons for doing this: 1) hopefully it will be easier to move the pizza into oven and 2) I'm hoping the yeast will live a bit longer during the bake and I'll get a bigger rise.

So, if anyone here has ever tried this, am I making bad assumptions? Will it still be hard to move into the oven or will it actually harm the rising process? What is the downside to doing this?

For the next pizza I make, I am considering refrigerating it for a while after it is all dressed up. I have two reasons for doing this: 1) hopefully it will be easier to move the pizza into oven and 2) I'm hoping the yeast will live a bit longer during the bake and I'll get a bigger rise.

So, if anyone here has ever tried this, am I making bad assumptions? Will it still be hard to move into the oven or will it actually harm the rising process? What is the downside to doing this?

Spaz,

You didn't indicate how long you would put the dressed pizza into the refrigerator, but if it is for a meaningful period of time, you may experience problems with the sauce leaching into the dough and it might release some of its water content through separation. That might lead to a gumline in the finished crust. As a possible solution to that problem, you could brush the dough skin with oil to serve as a barrier between the sauce and the skin, but sometimes that can cause the cheese and toppings to slide off of slices once they are eaten. Under normal conditions, I wouldn't worry much about the yeast losing its leavening capacity.

I have never refrigerated a pie after dressing it, but I have used cold dough, right out of the refrigerator. If anything, I'd say that it had a slight negative impact on oven spring, not positive. I think that most oven spring doesn't happen until the dough gets to a certain temperature, so putting it in cold will just delay it, not increase it.

Another reason that I don't like using cold dough is that it takes longer for the crust brown. The cheese burns and the toppings overcook before there is enough browning.

For the next pizza I make, I am considering refrigerating it for a while after it is all dressed up. I have two reasons for doing this: 1) hopefully it will be easier to move the pizza into oven and 2) I'm hoping the yeast will live a bit longer during the bake and I'll get a bigger rise.

So, if anyone here has ever tried this, am I making bad assumptions? Will it still be hard to move into the oven or will it actually harm the rising process? What is the downside to doing this?

You will find it easier to launch if you just open up a cooler temp dough ball.